Visit me in my Studio and watch me paint

I introduce myself and then give a brief walk around my studio set up for the day and then paint a picture of some lavender flowers.

Encaustic Techniques

Encaustic art comes in a very wide and varied range of styles. It is a wonderful medium to work in and artists around the world use many different types of wax and with many different styles and techniques of working which all fall under the umbrella of “Encaustic”.

Different Styles

I myself work in different ways with wax. In fact I use two different types of wax and different supports and styles when working in each of these waxes.

When working on gloss card I use a wax paint that is suitable for this support and when working on, wood panels and absorbent supports, and the Ampersand Arts Encausticbord as in this video I use the wonderful handmade paints of R & F Paints.

I first started using the R & F paints last year when I reviewed their Encaustic starter kit and blogged about it : www.artinwax.co.uk/blog/encaustic-starter-kit-review/ and since then I have lots of their wax and love to work with it, when working onto these supports and with this formula of wax I layer the wax and fuse between layers, the effects are amazing from strong colours to misty effects when clear wax is layer over colour to give depth and softness.

I also love working in more of a free and abstract way with the deeper layers, using hot air to move and form the wax and layering to create pieces of art just a bit different from my other work !!!

Pieces of Art In Wax in both styles are available to buy online via my online store : Shop Art In Wax. If you don’t see a picture you are looking for in the shop please contact me.

Watch me paint

This is video …. please leave me comment and let me know what you think.

The Encausticbord has not been readily available in the UK other than in the kits as far as I am aware, but I am informed that Ampersand Art Supply who are based in Buda Texas, are looking to have UK supplier later this year.

Always up for a challenge

If you have read my blog before you know that I love to see what can be done in hot wax and I love to challenge myself and try new things, so when this opportunity came I was very excited to be working with Ampersand and with these wonderful encaustic supports.

Working with Ampersand Encausticbord

This is what Ampersand Arts Supply say about Encausticbord …….

A Creative Collaboration between Ampersand™ and R&F Handmade Paints
This creative collaboration began in 2008 when the two manufacturers, authorities in their respective fields of wood painting panels and encaustic paint colors, started working together to dream up the perfect surface for encaustic paints. This combination of Ampersand’s archival panel coating technology and R&F’s expertise in encaustics led to Encausticbord™, a unique wood panel that has the tooth to hold encaustic and mixed media unlike any other surface.

Making the videos

My husband Adrian, a great amateur photographer in his own right, filmed as I painted. We are not professional film makers, we got the giggles a few times and had a few out-takes too …… but I have a passion for painting Art In Wax and I hope this comes over in the videos.

The two videos created especially for Ampersand Art Supply are now live and can be seen online on the Ampersand Art Supply YouTube Channel. I have posted the direct links to my demonstrations below :

I am using the wonderful and amazing colour wax paints by R & F Paints in these films.

Two video demonstrations

Cradled Encausticbord :
This film shows me working on an Encausticbord cradle which is 6 x 6 inches and a prefect size for this subject, in this film I demonstrate the stages of how I painted a Sunflower head.

Artist Trading Cards in Encaustic :
In this film I demonstrate the techniques working in miniature, onto Encaustic ACEO / ATC 2.5 x 3.5 inch size Encausticbord panels which are great fun to work with. Here I create three pieces using different styles and technique, from painting directly onto the surface, to a mixed media piece and a colorful abstract.

Spring clean in the studio

I have been having a tidy up !!!!

3 years of Art In Wax

It is three years at the weekend that I started to paint in wax, my encaustic starter kit from Arts Encaustic was delivered on the 5th April 2011, I know it’s funny to remember but it was also the end of the tax year and it stuck in my mind and as I start to think about our year end again I am reminded …..

Back then I only painted onto specialist card using my iron and stylus, now I still paint with them, in fact I have several, the heated stylus tool is my favorite of all my tools, I use one as a hot palette knife and others with fine nibs attached for detailed work.

Now I also have a collection of other tools, including my hotplate and heated air tool, which I use more in my work onto wood panels and other supports.

I love to paint in wax and my style and methods of painting in this wonderful medium have evolved and developed over time and are still, as I experiment more with different supports and styles of painting. Please visit the Art in wax online gallery, exhibit and shop pages to see just some of my work that is online.

Some of my personal favorites

As an artist I tend to have my favorites, as I’m my own worse critic I don’t always like some of my pieces in the beginning, they grow on me …… and yet others I love from the start but many I have a fondness for and some are on the walls in our home, I couldn’t show all my favorites here as there are too many, but the few featured here show a sort of timeline.

From the early thistle, that was shown on TV as I loaned it to Micheal Bossom of Arts Encasutic for his demonstration on Create and Craft back in 2011 to the rose which is the subject of our first video demonstration.

Lady Elizabeth, who was in my first online exhibition “Lady’s Day“, to the vase of sunflowers, also from an online exhibition a couple of years ago, to more recent, the wonderful sunsets with there vibrant colours, the one I am showing here, that I am holding was recently displayed at the Cliffs Pavilion at the Southend Art Club Spring exhibition, which was my first offline exhibition and great fun, I was the only Encaustic artist in the show.

I love painting Sunflowers and the one to the right is on a wood panel, a new series and style of working with wax I have included in my portfolio, plus my most favorite of flowers to paint at the moment …… Poppies of course …..

Anyway back to the clean up…..

Fun but Messy

Working with wax is great fun, but when I am in full flow it is also very messy.

I have been working with my hotplate recently and decided it was time for a Spring clean, so all the pots with the wax have been cleaned and now have fresh clean wax, melted and ready to use, plus some of the tools, where possible have had a clean and are ready for my next project.

When working with the hotplate onto wood panels or Encausticbord, I use a US manufacturer of wax medium and wax paintings ; R&F Handmade paints, which I source from a couple of there UK suppliers, either Fred Aldous or Jacksons Art mostly, but when working onto the specialist gloss card I use in many of my works I use a brand of wax by Arts Encaustic who are based in the UK.

Already to make more mess……

As you can see I am now ready for my next project and to have fun and make more mess with wax !!!